Of New Beginnings and Other Mothers
by Ravenclaw'sWit015
Summary: An alternate retelling of season two. Instead of falling through a portal, Emma stays in Storybrooke as she, Henry, and Regina try to figure out exactly how the Henry Has Two Mommies situation is going to work. NOT a SQ story, sorry guys. Rated T for language.
1. Of Blanket Forts, War Councils, and Love

**Disclaimer: I don't own Once or it's characters. They belong to the lovely Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis. **

Chapter 1: Of Blanket Forts, War Councils, and Love

Summary: The night after the curse breaks, Emma and Henry discuss sleeping arrangements, their family's future, and Regina.

"Is this okay, kid?" Emma asked, her voice unsteady, unsure.

She and Henry were lying side by side in her bed in the spare bedroom of Mary M—no, _Snow's_—apartment. The day had been a hectic one that was for sure. Between Henry's dying and coming back to life, her fighting a dragon and breaking The Dark Curse (which she'd only just discovered was real, go figure!), meeting her parents for the first time, and stopping an angry mob from lynching Regina (per Henry's request), Emma was just about ready to sleep for another twenty-eight years. The only thing keeping her awake was Henry. Or rather, her anxiety over sleeping next to Henry was what was keeping her awake. _Is this super awkward for him?_ _Is he too old for this?_ She wondered. _Should I take the couch?_

"Is what okay?" Henry asked. Clearly not picking up on his mother's apprehension.

"Y'know," she said. "This. Me and you sharing the same bed. Is it weird? Do you wanna sleep downstairs on the couch? Do you want me to sleep on the floor? Do you wanna build a blanket fort cuz-"

"Emma," Henry interrupted. "It's fine."

"Oh. Good. That's good then."

"Why are you acting all weird? What's wrong with you?"

Emma faltered. She knew _why_ she was so nervous. But how could she explain it to Henry? "_I know you're with me now, kid. But I still don't know shit about being a Mom, same as I did when I gave you away?"_ Well, obviously, _that_ wouldn't do…

"Emma?" Henry asked, his voice soft.

"Yeah, kid?"

"I—I'm happy…to be here with you. Right now," he said. "And with Snow and Charming too," he added. "I'm happy you broke the curse so that we can all be together now." It was as if he could sense her New Mom Anxiety, and was trying to say, "_everything's cool, Mom. Relax."_, without really saying it.

"That's good, Henry. Me too." She sensed that there was a "but" in there somewhere.

"What happens now," Henry asked again, his voice still small, barely a whisper. He sounded every bit the small child that he was. Not like her brave little man who had stared death in the face barely twenty-four hours ago.

"What, you mean with you and me? Or with you, me, and Snow and Charming? Or do you mean what happens with the town?"

"Everything," he said. He snuggled closer to her, burying his face in her side. It still amazed Emma (and unnerved her, if she were honest) just how open and free Henry was with his physical affection. But she would be lying if she said that she didn't also enjoy the contact. She stroked her fingers through Henry's thick, brown hair.

"Well… tomorrow Snow and Dav—Charming," she corrected herself. "are meeting up with their War Council-you know, the dwarves, Ruby, Granny—and they want me to come too so-"

"So does that mean I can come too?" Henry asked. His voice picking up as he lifted his head off of Emma's chest and stared down at her expectantly.

"Well…" Emma paused. The idea of her ten-year-old being present for a war council didn't exactly sit right with her – she'd never been to one herself, but she was pretty damn sure that they weren't kid appropriate. She didn't want to start this whole Being A Mom Thing off on a bad note. -– but there wouldn't be anyone else to watch Henry so… "Yeah, I guess you'll have to come along."

"Cool." Henry smiled. And then rested his head on Emma's chest.

"Mmmm." Emma agreed, and resumed running her fingers through Henry's hair. "Got any more questions, or can we sleep now?"

"You started with the questions, not me."

_God, this kid and his sass_.

"Emma." The small, Scared Little Boy Voice was back.

"Yeah, kid?"

"What's gonna happen to her?"

_Oh._

"You mean your mom?" Henry nodded against her breast.

They had taken Regina to the sheriff station and locked her in a jail cell after rescuing her from the mob outside of the Mayor's Mansion. Right now, the dwarves were watching her in shifts.

"I dunno, kid. I guess we'll figure that out at the Council tomorrow." Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Henry to be there if they were going to be discussing his mother's fate. "If you wanna skip out tomorrow that's…"

"No! I want to be there." Henry's voice rose again. "I want to make sure nothing bad happens to her. She's still my mom." He whispered that last part.

_Oh, fuck._ This was slipping into dangerous territory. The Beyond Emma's Sleep-Deprived-Emotionally-Stunted-Headspace kind of dangerous territory.

"She said she loved me." Henry continued. "At the hospital. She said she loved me. She said no matter what anyone said, she still loves me." His voice began to crack.

"She does, Henry."

Emma knew and didn't know a lot of things about Regina. She was a murderer. She'd torn apart Emma's family. She was seriously fucked in the head. She'd held an entire town of amnsiacs under her grip for twenty-eight years. And Emma still had her suspicions about Regina's "relationship" with Graham. On top of all that, she _hated_ how Regina treated Henry, like he was delusional and convincing the entire town that he was.

But if there was one thing Emma knew, it was that deep down, beneath all of her narcissism, insanity and possessiveness, Regina loves Henry. It may not be what you'd call "normal" or "healthy", but the mayor—former mayor—loved her son. Regina had been just as devastated as Emma when they'd thought Henry was dead. Yes, Emma was sure of it. The former mayor may be batshit insane, but she loved Henry with everything she had.

"But-" Henry's voice hitched. His brow furrowed. He seemed to be trying to work something out in his head. "How could she love me…and treat me the way she did?"

"What do you mean?" But she didn't have to ask. She knew what Henry meant.

"She made me think I was crazy. I did think I was for a while. I did! Everyone was growing up except me! All of my friends from kindergarten are still five! Every year, everyone stayed in the same place. I was the only one who ever changed." Henry explained. "Before I got my book, I thought I was some kind of freak." He hiccupped "But after, it all made sense. It wasn't me. It was the town. It was _her_. But she told me I was crazy. She said I w-was delusional. She grounded me for making up stories. She told everyone I was d-di-disturbed."

Henry was full on sobbing now. Emma's heart ached and her stomach churned in anger and guilt. That _bitch_. She wanted to burst into the station and strangle Regina right then and there, council be damned.

"What kind of mom would do that?" Henry cried. "You don't treat people you love like that. Right Emma?" He turned his face up at her again, tears streaming down his big brown eyes.

Emma thought she might be sick. _Double fuck_, how was she supposed to answer that? She could barely handle her own emotional baggage, let alone her son's. A few hours in and she was already crap at being a mom.

She remembered her conversation with Mary Mar-Snow- a week or so ago. _And you're ready? To be his mom? Yeah. _She'd answered. Yes. She could do this.

Emma swallowed, sat up, and gathered Henry up in her lap, holding him close.

"I'll tell you something, Henry. Something I read in a book once, a long time ago." Emma took a deep breath and continued. "Love is only as good as the lover. I mean, good people love well, wicked people love wickedly, selfish people love selfishly, you know?" She paused; maybe she shouldn't be badmouthing Henry's other mother to him. "Your mom, Henry, she has a lot of issues. She's done a lot of bad things. She's hurt a lot of people. I'm sure I don't have to tell you this."

Henry shook his head against the crook of her neck.

"You're mom's no saint Henry." _Well that's an understatement_. "But she loves you in the best way she knows how."

Henry leaned back and looked up at Emma.

"So does that make me bad? For wanting to be away from her for right now?" He asked, his voice tearful and nervous.

"No." Emma said firmly. "No, no, no, kid. No. She hurt you. Badly. It's only natural for you to want some space." She took another deep breath. "But she raised you. So it's only natural for you to love her, too. And you do, don't you? Despite everything."

Henry nodded.

"There's no shame in that." She assured. After a pause, she added. "Henry have I ever told you how amazing you are? How brave, and kind, and just plain _cool_ you are?"

He shook his head.

"Well you are. You hopped a bus and found a total stranger, barged right into her apartment and demanded she come home with you—and you got your way!"

Henry sniffled. Emma stroked his hair and rubbed circles on his back.

"You worked for months to convince me and everyone else to believe the impossible. You believed when we didn't. You stared death in the face, ate poison to save me. And by doing that, you saved your entire hometown!"

Emma pulled Henry back to look at him so that he was cradled in her arms. She looked him in the eyes and whispered, "You're going to make such a wonderful, brave, knight one day, kid." Henry smiled and wiped his eyes.

"And you know what?"

"What?"

"The fact that you still love your mom, after everything she did to you and everyone else, is what I love most about you. I love how big your heart is, Henry. I'm so proud to call you my son."

Henry smiled wider. "Sap," he teased.

"Crybaby," Emma shot back playfully.

Henry wiped his eyes, and then gave his mom another one of his bear hugs.

"What happens if, at the War Council, they decide to- to…you know…"

Emma didn't want to lie to her kid, but she didn't want him to go to sleep with the thought of his mother's impending demise weighing on his mind. She sighed.

"We won't let that happen. Me, and Snow, and James, we're going to make everything turn out alright. But listen, kid." She pulled Henry back and tilted his chin up, so that he could look into her eyes once more. "It's not you're job to worry about that anymore. Let the grown ups handle it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. _Now_ can we sleep?"

"Yeah. I'm beat."

"Good. Me too. Night, kid."

"Goodnight, Emma. " He snuggled back into her side. "I love you."

Emma turned over so that she and Henry were facing one another. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer to her as she curled her body around his small one.

"I love you too, Henry."

**A.N.: The book Emma gets that quote from is called "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. It's a really good read, if anyone's interested. **

**Let me know what you think :)**


	2. Of Tree Limbs, Goodbyes, & Understanding

**Disclaimer: Just to reiterate, the characters of Once Upon a Time belong to Adam and Eddy, not me**

Chapter 2: Of Tree Limbs, Goodbyes, and Understandings

Summary: Regina ducks out of the war council and brings Henry back to the mansion. Yeah, Emma's got a problem with that.

* * *

_Dammit! Dammit! God-freaking DAMMIT! _ Emma cursed to herself as she tore through the streets of Storybrooke. She should've known that it was a dumbass idea to bring Henry to that war council meeting! If she weren't running right now she'd be kicking herself! _FUCK!_

She should have been more wary of the possessive glint in Regina's eyes when the mayor had seen Henry enter the town hall with Emma, Snow, and Charming. She should have known that bitch would pull some sneaky magic shit on them. Whatever kind of magic Mother Superior-no, The Blue Fairy- had used to restrain Regina had failed. Big time. Before anyone could blink, Regina was out of those handcuffs, and then both she and Henry were gone in a puff of purple smoke.

It had taken Emma all of three seconds to get over her shock before she was out the door and headed for the mayor's mansion, ignoring Snow and Charming's pleas for her to wait, they didn't know what Regina was capable of!

No. Emma didn't know what the Mayor/Queen was capable of. She had only discovered magic was real two days ago. But Emma was beyond done with Regina. Before it was bad enough that the woman was being a total bitch to her. But finding out that the Curse was actually real made everything so much worse.

This woman had stolen her childhood, her life with her parents.

She had sent Henry to therapy, made him feel insane, when there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

She had imprisoned her parents—hell, an entire _kingdom_- in this fake town for twenty-eight years.

And, now, she had kidnapped Emma's kid.

Their kid.

Regina's kid?

Was it even kidnapping if Regina took Henry? She _had_ raised him from infancy after all. Didn't Regina have every right to take him?

Emma paused to consider this as she came to a stop outside of the gates of the Mayor's Mansion. Maybe Regina did have more of a right to Henry than she did. But fuck if Emma was going to let that psycho keep the kid locked up in her Mansion of Crazy for the rest of his life.

Emma passed through the gate and made her way up the pathway. Then stopped as something caught her eye. _What the actual fuck…? Oh hell no!_ She resumed running.

"REGINA!"

v

Henry tried to regain his footing after landing in the foyer. His mom's hand on his shoulder steadied him.

"Now I don't want you to think things are going to go back to how they used to be," she started to say. But Henry didn't wait to hear the rest. He wrenched his shoulder from her grasp and ran up the stairs as fast as he could. If he could only make it to his room…

"Henry!" He heard Mom call. He had to stop himself from turning and answering her. Old habits die hard.

Henry tore into his room and found the rope made out of blankets that he kept stored under his bed. He tied one end of the rope around the radiator and tossed the rest out of the window. Taking a deep breath, he slowly began to climb out of the window, one leg at a time. _If I can just make it back to Emma_, he chanted as he climbed down the rope.

A rustling from behind him. And then something grabbed his wrists, and then his legs, and before he knew it, Henry was being hoisted into the air.

His heart pounded. He couldn't breathe. Were these _tree_ _branches_? Henry looked to his wrist, and then up around him and sure enough, the branches of the tree were wrapped around his wrists and legs. Tightly. He struggled, but his bonds only grew tighter. He cried out in pain as he fought some more.

"Don't fight it, honey," Mom's voice called out. He looked over and saw her upper body sticking out of his bedroom window. "You'll get a splinter."

_Too_ _late_, Henry thought. He couldn't be sure, but going by the pain in his wrists he was almost positive that he was bleeding. _Fine_, he surrendered, hanging his head in defeat. _You_ _win_. Just then he heard an angry voice shout, "REGINA!"

Henry lifted his head. _Emma!_

v

Regina scowled. That damned woman again. She was just as much a thorn in Regina's side as her idiot parents. She had hoped that she'd have had time to set up proper wards before Emma Swan and her parents came for _her_ son. But no matter.

"Come along, darling," she called to Henry who was still being held by the branches. "Give me your hands, I'll help you inside."

The tree branches brought Henry towards the window. They loosened, as per her command, so she could pull Henry gently through his window and bring him to stand on the floor.

Henry wrung his hands, trying to get rid of the residual pain. Regina frowned, a phantom hurt passing through her own wrists. _She always hated it when Mother used that spell on her…_

Regina was torn from her reverie as Henry tried to brush passed her.

"No," she said calmly. "You stay here. I'm going to have a word with Ms. Swan."

Henry moved forward again. She shot him a warning glare.

"I mean it, young man. Stay in your room, or there will be consequences."

Henry frowned, knowing when he was beaten. He sank to his bed.

"That's my boy," Regina smiled, patted Henry on the head, and turned on her heel to walk out of the room and down the stairs.

v

Emma Swan was waiting for her at the landing of the steps.

"_Where is he_?" she growled. "What did you do to him?!"

"Really, dear, I know that your upbringing was less than proper, " Regina mocked. "But surely at some point you were taught that one does not barge into a person's home, uninvited, and then shout random questions in that person's face. It's most unbecoming of a princess."

"I don't have time for your petty insults today, Regina. Where is my kid?"

Regina scowled. "_My_ son is exactly where he belongs. In his room, in the house he's lived in for ten years. Now that we've settled that, kindly turn around and walk back through that door you just barged through."

"Like hell am I gonna leave him here with a psychopath like you…"

"You left him with me for ten years, dear, and in that time he's been fed, clothed, and had his every need taken care of. What sense is there in taking him away now? What can _you_ possibly do for him that I can't?"

Emma faltered. In a way, Regina was right. She had given Henry away so that he could have his best chance. Her eyes swept across the room. He lived in a _mansion_ for God's sake. Was she really going to take him back to Snow's cramped apartment so that he could crash with her on a double bed?

Yes. She was. Emma recalled her and Henry's conversation from the previous night. How he'd told her that Regina had made him feel miserable and isolated and unloved through her actions. She remembered Kathryn's disappearance and Regina's shoddy frame job. She remembered the poisoned turnover and seeing Henry's lifeless body on that hospital bed. She remembered seeing Henry _dangling_ from that tree just now. Yes, she was going to take him away from Regina. And she wasn't going to let herself feel bad about it, either.

"That thing that I just saw. With the tree," Emma began slowly, her voice deadly calm, "was that the first time you ever did something like that to him?"

Regina's eyes widened. She took a step back. Then she remembered herself and whom she was talking to.

"I don't have to justify how I choose to parent _my_ child to the woman who gave him up ten years ago!"

"Answer the question, Regina or so help me-"

"Or what," Regina challenged. "You'll do what, dear? I'm anxious to see what you can do to me with no magic, no weapon…"

"I don't need anything but my fists," Emma snarled as she advanced on Regina.

Before the brunette could even react, Emma had her hands around Regina's neck. She squeezed, hard, backing Regina into a corner.

"What have you been doing to my son all of these years, you crazy bitch!" Emma roared.

"Raising him!" Regina shot back, her fingers clawing at Emma's hands, which were still wrapped around her neck. "Changing every diaper! Soothing every fever! Bandaging every scrape while you were off gallivanting in Heaven knows where!"

"Yeah scrapes that you probably caused!" the blonde shouted. "If I'd known THIS was where he'd ended up, that _you_ were who he'd end up with I'd have never-"

A fist to the nose cut her off.

"Well that's irrelevant because the fact is that-"

Emma had regained her footing after being knocked back by Regina's fist, and was now wrestling her to the floor, fingernails digging into the brunette's arms. Emma's vision was red. She was going to make good on the threat she made at the hospital…

"Stop!" A young voice cried out.

Both women turned their heads to see their son standing a few feet away from them at the foot of the stairs, a horrified expression on his face.

"Mom, Emma," he said, his voice breaking, "what are you doing?"

"Henry," Emma was the first to recover. She stood. "Get your things. We're leaving. You don't have to stay here anymore." He turned to do what she said.

"Stop!" Regina got to her feet and moved to where Henry was at the steps. "Henry get back to your room like I told you." She grabbed his hand to lead him.

Henry hissed in pain.

"What? What is it?"

Henry pulled his hand from Regina's grip and cradled his wrist in the other hand. Regina frowned. "Let me see," she said gently, taking his wrists into her hands and bending her knees to get a good look.

"Oh!" she gasped.

Both of Henry's wrists were a deep, angry purple. There were red, bloody gashes along the areas where the branches must have cut the deepest. Regina frowned deeper. She let Henry's wrists go and looked down. She couldn't bring herself to meet her son's eyes.

Regina remembered now. Similar bruises. Familiar cuts. An icy cold feeling slipped into her veins and her stomach churned as she recalled old wounds and old fears. She'd sworn, she'd promised herself when she adopted Henry that she wouldn't become her mother. And she had failed. Failed her childhood self, but most importantly, she had failed her child. This was unacceptable.

Regina hunched her shoulders in resignation. As she brought herself out of her old memories, she realized what she had to do.

"Henry," she began again. "You're going to go home with Emma."

"Really?" Mother and son asked at the same time, in the same incredulous tone.

"Really," Regina assured them both. "I shouldn't have brought you here," she said, turning back to face Henry. She still couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. "I was… I don't know how to love very well, honey. I wasn't capable of it for a very long time. Not until I had you," she continued. "I'm sorry about today. And I'm sorry about before. That I lied to you and made you think that I didn't know who you are, " she swallowed back tears. "But I want you to be here with me because you want to be, and not because I forced you to with magic." She looked away again, at the floor, and whispered. "Go get your things."

Henry hesitated, then turned and made his way back up the stairs. Regina stood up to face Emma. This next part was going to be the hardest.

"To answer your question, I've never harmed my son," Regina stated calmly.

"Until now," Emma corrected.

"Yes," Regina amended, "until now. Until he found out about the curse…"

"You're really letting him go? Why now?"

"It's what's best for him," Regina said slowly. "And what he wants. To be with you. And I… I meant what I said. I don't know how to love very well. I did the best I could. I never wanted to be like her…" She was drifting away again. Back to the other world, to her other life as a scared little girl, cowering before her mother. Today had been oddly reflective for her…

"Her?" Emma probed.

Regina ignored her. "I need to sort a few things out. I want to be better… for him. He deserves-"

"His best chance." Emma finished for her.

"Yes."

"Wow. Finally something we agree on," Emma smiled tentatively. "You're really willing to change. To undo decades of terror and evil…"

Regina cut her off. "Henry is worth it. He's worth everything. He's all I have…" she said that last part softly. Emma had never seen the former mayor, normally closed off and secretive, so contemplative.

"I know the feeling."

"You'll take care of him," it wasn't a question. "Make sure he goes to bed at a decent hour and does his homework and wears matching clothes, and eats properly—not hot chocolate and fish sticks or some such trash for every meal…"

"I'll let Snow handle the cooking," she noticed how Regina's lip curled at the mention of her most hated adversary. "But everything else, yeah I'm on it. How long is this going to last? You're not going to up and change your mind later on are you?"

Regina paused for a minute, again looking contemplative. "For the time being," she decided.

"Children need stability."

"Well then, you know, this doesn't have to be one way or the other," if Regina was going to be civil about this, then Emma supposed she could offer up her own olive branch. "I mean he doesn't have to be with me and _only_ me. You can still see him whenever you want. Maybe we could do lunch or dinner or movie night or—"

"We'll work something out," Regina agreed. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Oh, crap," Emma smacked her head. "The war council. What am I going to tell The Charmings?"

"The Charmings?"

"It's how I refer to my p- to Snow and James. Collectively. Anyway not important, "she waved her hand. "You're supposed to be on trial right now. And your little kidnapping stunt probably didn't help things."

Oh. That. Regina winced.

"I'll talk thing over with them," Emma offered.

"Thank you," Regina said again.

Henry came bounding down the stairs once again. Seeing him with a duffle bag, knowing that this was really happening, that she was saying goodbye to her son for the foreseeable future, made Regina's heart twist. But she knew that it was for the best.

"Goodbye, Henry," she whispered in a tearful voice.

"Bye, Mom."

Henry wrapped his arms around her waist in a quick, tight, squeeze, which Regina returned, tears she could no longer hold back streaming down her face.

"Be good for Emma."

"I will," he promised as he stepped out of her embrace.

Emma took Henry's bag and led him through the front door. "Sorry, kid. We'll have to walk back to the apartment. I kinda forgot to get my car when I was on my way over here. I was in a rush."

"That's ok. You're doing the heavy lifting," Henry teased.

"Ha. Ha," Emma said sarcastically, as they walked out of the house.

Regina sighed as she watched her son and his birth mother walk down the front path and out of her sight. She walked into her sitting room to pour herself a glass of cider while she waited for "The Charmings" and their little "war council" to come for her.

**A/N: I've always wondered how Emma would have reacted to seeing Henry tied up by those tree branches. That's the conclusion I've come to. So yeah, this story's going to be just as much about Regina learning to be a better parent as it is about Emma learning how to be a parent at all. Don't send me any anti-adoption hate peeps, I don't think she's a bad parent because she adopted Henry or because she's the Evil Queen, I think she's a bad parent because of how she treated Henry (gaslighting, compulsive lying, trying to kill his loved ones=bad). So this story will be about all three of these characters working their issues out. **

**Please Review!**


	3. Of Special Cups, Pumpkin& New Adventures

**Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters. Do I have to say this at the start of every chapter? **

Chapter 3: Of, Special Cups, Pumpkins and New Adventures

Summary: In which Henry ponders the reasons behind his adoption and makes some new discoveries, while Emma comes to realize the full consequences of the choice she make ten years ago.

* * *

Henry sat on the bench at the bus stop outside of Granny's, idly swinging his legs back and forth while he waited for Emma to come meet him once she was finished with work for the day. He sighed deeply as he thought back to his earlier conversation with Jefferson.

_Anything is better than not knowing. _

_I've been left too. _

_She'll always wonder why you left her._

Jefferson had gone to Grace in the end. Like Emma had stayed in Storybrooke in the end. But still, Henry wondered, what made parents think it was best to go away in the first place?

He knew _why_ Emma had sent him away. _To give me my best chance, _Henry reminded himself. He knew for sure that that was true. _But why wasn't my best chance with __**her**__?_

Henry wasn't dumb. He knew you couldn't keep babies with you in jail. But why didn't Emma just send him to an orphanage?_ I_ _wouldn't have minded waiting for her_. Then an awful thing occurred to Henry.

_Kid! I don't have a son!_

_If you keep this child are you really ready, because I wasn't. Running can't happen. You have to grow up and you can't ever leave._

Maybe Emma didn't want kids back then. Maybe she never did. He had always thought that his birth mother had given him away for _him_, but maybe it was for her, too. Did she feel trapped by Henry asking her to stay in Storybrooke? The curse was broken now; did Emma still want to stay? Henry knew Emma loved him; she'd saved him with True Love's Kiss. But does that mean that she wants to be his mom, too, like Regina is? Does she still want to run-

"Hey kid! You ready?"

Emma's sudden appearance in front of him snapped Henry out of his inner musings.

"Yeah."

She frowned. "What's up? Why do you look so serious?"

"No reason. Just thinkin' about stuff."

"What kinda stuff?"

"Nothing."

Emma's frown deepened. This wasn't like Henry. This wasn't like her and Henry. He shared everything with her. The last time he'd been this closed off and forlorn had been after Graham died.

"What's going on, kid?"

"Nothing," Henry answered flatly. He stared at his shoes, digging his big toe into the gravel. "What's for dinner tonight?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

Emma grinned. "Well… Charming's on duty at the station tonight. And Snow's having dinner with Red, something about girl time and catching up. So since it's just you and me tonight, I thought we'd do something different."

"Like what?" Henry perked up.

"How about if we eat out tonight." Emma's grin widened at Henry's confused look. "But not at Granny's," she clarified. "We'd leave town. Go eat at an actual restaurant in the city."

"Yeah!" Henry exclaimed. He had only ever left Storybrooke once in his life, when he had run away to go find Emma. And while that had been an adventure, he hadn't really had time to stop and take it all in.

"Cool, hop in," Emma said, gesturing to the bug.

Henry was so excited to be going on a trip with Emma that he immediately forgot all about the dark thoughts that had been troubling him only minutes before.

v

"How about Ruby Tuesday?"

Henry shrugged. "Is that a restaurant?"

Emma didn't know whether to laugh, roll her eyes, or cry. She was only just beginning to understand just how small Henry's world had been up until… probably until this exact moment. She had seen the way he had twisted and turned and craned his neck in order to get a better view of the city as they drove through the streets of Bangor. It was both endearing and heartbreaking to watch.

"Yeah. It's pretty good."

"OK, sure."

"Good, 'cause we're here," Emma said as she pulled into a parking spot.

Henry gazed, wide-eyed up at the massive building in front of him. "Is this all one restaurant?"

Emma laughed. "No, kid. The restaurant is part of the mall." Henry stared at her. "You know, the Bangor Mall? That's where we are right now."

"A mall? Like the ones on TV?"

"You've never been?" She wanted to smack herself. Of course not, there aren't any malls in Storybrooke.

Henry shook his head. "Do you think, maybe, if we eat fast enough, and there's enough time after, we could look around for a little bit?"

Emma checked her watch. It was only five o'clock. "Sure, kid. I don't see why not."

v

They were now seated in a booth in the restaurant, and Emma was both surprised and unsurprised to find that Henry's wonderment at the outside world had not yet let up. _This is the actual restaurant, right Emma? WOW it's still so big! Much bigger than Granny's! Cool, they give you place mats that you can color on! Play Tic Tac Toe with me, Emma! You mean there are TWO menus? One for kids and one for adults? There are so many choices, I don't know what to get! So I get to keep this cup because I got something off the kids' menu? Do you get to keep yours? Why not? What are mozzarella sticks? Can I have one? I'll trade you a chicken finger for a bite of your pretzel burger! _

Emma had taken his barrage of questions in stride, answering each one patiently as she swallowed the lump that rose up in her throat at each one of Henry's new discoveries. While she was ecstatic to share this new experience with him, the full realization of what it meant to Henry to leave his hometown pained her. This wasn't what she had in mind for her newborn baby when she gave him away to the social worker. _You were supposed to have more than this… _

v

Henry was so enamored with Ruby Tuesday that Emma had to remind him of his earlier desire to see the actual mall in order for him to actually eat instead of gawking and asking questions. Once they were finished eating, Emma paid the bill and the two left the restaurant through the exit that led into the mall.

Henry's eyes widened like saucers for the perhaps the hundredth time that day as he turned in a circle to get a good look at everything. "Whoa!" he breathed. "So many stores! And even _more_ food places! Why didn't we eat at one of these?"

"Well excuse me for wanting to treat you to fine dining," Emma teased. She had to watch what she said though; Henry might actually think Ruby Tuesday was "fine dining" if she wasn't careful. "So where do you want to go first?"

"Ummmm," Henry stopped to think. He knew people came to the mall to shop, but he didn't really want to buy anything. He just wanted to _see_ everything. Maybe Emma wanted something. "I dunno. Where do you usually go when you go to a mall?"

"Depends on what I want."

"Well what do you want?"

"Nothing, right now. How 'bout you?"

"I just wanna look at things."

"Okay well then lead the way, kid,"

"Hmm, let's go this way," Henry decided, pointing to his left and grabbing Emma's hand.

v

"So, wait, you've _never_ picked out your own clothes before?" Emma asked as they strolled through the kids' section of JC Penny.

"Mm-mm," Henry shook his head. "Mom always bought everything for me."

"Didn't you have any say?"

"She'd ask me what colors I liked," Henry offered.

"Well that explains it," Emma chuckled to herself.

"What?"

"Your wardrobe," Emma explained. Then, after seeing Henry's confused face, she continued, "You dress like one of those little preppy kids from out of the L.L. Bean catalogues. You're all cardigans and khakis." Henry's look turned sour. "No offense," she added. The look didn't go away. _Crap._ "Well you're with me, now. And I say you can wear whatever you want. So have at it, kid," she said, gesturing to the boys' section. Henry hesitated. "What? What is it?"

"Nothing. Just…what if I like dressing like a preppy kid from a catalogue?" Did Emma not like the way he looked?

"Then you'll be my little dorky Catalogue Kid," she ruffled his hair. "I don't care what you wear, Henry, as long as you like it." But Henry's attention had already shifted to the graphic T-shirt section. _Ah. Should've known_ she thought to herself as she saw him holding a navy blue Iron Man shirt up against his chest.

"What do you think?" he asked her.

They ended up leaving JC Penny with six more Marvel T-shirts, and a grand total of zero cardigans.

v

"You sure you want to go in here, kid?" Emma asked as they stood at the entrance to Bath and Body Works. "It's kind of a girly store."

"It smells nice," Henry answered, already walking inside. Emma shrugged and followed him.

It didn't take long for Henry to get bored with the sweet-smelling store. But at least now he knew what the scent Emma always smelled like was called, _Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. _That made sense when he thought about it_. Pumpkin, I was thinking that could be my nickname for Operation Cobra_. Didn't she say his dad really liked pumpkin pie? Maybe that's why Emma was so obsessed with them.

As Emma went to pay for her items, a bottle of body wash caught Henry's eye.

_Vermont Honey Apple_ Henry read, _Mom would like that... _

v

They went to four other stores before the mall closed, Sears ("Whoa! Look at all the TVs, Emma! And they're all playing the same thing at the same time. How can you decide which is better?), Spencer's ("Can we get silly string, Emma? _Please?_"), Build a Bear Workshop ("I don't _want_ a teddy bear, Emma, I'm not a toddler. I just think it'd be fun to _make_ one."), and finally, Dairy Queen (What's a blizzard?). As they walked to the bug, their hands full with their purchases, Henry turned to take one last look at the mall.

"It's amazing that so many stores can fit inside one building. It's really not that big when you think of how much stuff is inside."

_God_, she loved this kid so freaking much.

v

Snow and Charming still weren't home when Emma and Henry got back to the apartment. They both collapsed on the bed after dropping their bags on the floor.

"Why don't you put your shirts away," Emma suggested as she pulled "Alice," the white stuffed rabbit Henry had made at Build-a-Bear, out of the little cardboard house. _Here, Emma, I want you to have her. I'm too old for stuffed animals but I know girls like them!_ She placed the bear on the bed and then turned to see Henry crouched down in front of the dresser, holding his red Thor t-shirt in his hands. That morose, reflective look from earlier was back on his face.

"What's up, kid?" she asked as she walked over to the dresser.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing. Does it have anything to do with what was bumming you out earlier?"

Henry sighed. Emma wasn't going to let this go. "I picked my own clothes out for the first time ever today."

"Mm-hmm," Emma nodded for him to go on.

"If I'd grown up with you, for my whole life, it would've always been like this. I'd always get to wear what I want. I'd know that kids get their own special cups at restaurants. I'd see things like malls all the time. I'd know that Bath and Body Works is for girls. If I'd stayed with you, we'd do things like this all the time and I wouldn't be so weird about it."

Aw crap. So he _had_ picked up on the laughing and eye rolling. Score one for the Worst Mom in Existence.

"Well, first of all Henry, today, you were freaking adorable," he blushed at being called 'adorable.' "You were," Emma insisted. "How do you think you got me to buy you all that crap?" she said, pointing to the bags of t-shirts and silly string. "Second," she took a deep breath. "I've missed out on so many important things in your life, so many firsts. Taking you on your first trip to the mall, letting you pick out your own clothes for the first time, those are things I never thought I'd get to do. You made today incredible. So thank you." She pulled him in for a hug and gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head. Emma took another deep breath and began again. This last part would be the hardest to break to him.

"And finally, if you had stayed with me, every day wouldn't have been like this." Henry looked up at her. She continued, "When I was in jail, Henry, the only two things I had were a car and a baby on the way. I had nothing to offer you. No money, no job, no friends or family to help us out. Even if you hadn't been born in prison, if by some miracle I could have gotten out early so that you could have stayed with me, instead of foster care, we still would've had nothing but the bug. We wouldn't have gone to malls and eaten in restaurants every day. We would've barely been able to scrape by. I wanted you to have more than that." She gripped his shoulders and turned him to face her, desperate for him to get it. "Do you understand? I know growing up under the curse was rough, I know. And I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, I am. But our lives wouldn't have been like what we did today. Not even close."

Henry didn't understand. Not at all. But he could tell Emma wanted him too. He could see the guilt in her eyes clear as day. He nodded. Emma sighed and pulled him in for another hug.

"Emma?" he asked, his voice muffed by her shirt.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Do you think… we could do something like today more often? Not shopping all the time. But just... leave Storybrooke every once in a while? Just to see other places? Please?"

"Of course! We can even go other places that aren't in Maine. We could go to Boston, or New York or… yeah kid. We can definitely take more trips together."

"Great. I'd like to see more of Boston!" Emma grinned.

"Come on, it's late. Time for bed."

v

Henry lay awake long after Emma had gone to sleep. His thoughts traveled back and forth between his conversations with Jefferson and with Emma not too long ago.

_I've been left too. Not knowing is the worst._

But he did know, sort of. Because their lives would've too been hard, that's why she sent him away.

_I wouldn't have minded being poor. I wouldn't have cared about living in our car. I wouldn't have minded not being able to go to malls and restaurants and buy new clothes all the time. _

Henry didn't think he was very clear earlier, when she'd asked him what was wrong. He told her about how awkward he felt and how he wished he had known all about all that stuff all along, how he wished he'd been able to do stuff like that all along. And that was true. He did wish those things. But that wasn't what was wrong. He didn't know how to tell Emma what was really wrong.

_You. I would've had _you_ all along._ He snuggled closer to Emma, breathing in the familiar pumpkin scent.

_Why, Mom?_

**A/N: I always felt like Henry has some unresolved abandonment issues regarding Emma's decision to give him up for adoption. I know he accepts that she wanted him to have his best chance, but did he ever look beyond that and question the "why" behind "best chance"? Well this plotline is far from over. We'll see more of Henry (and Emma's) abandonment issues as this story progresses. But for now let's check in on our favorite Queen. What did the war council decide?**


	4. Of Dinners, Gifts, and Tantrums

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters; they belong to Eddy and Adam.**

**A/N: I just want to thank you all for all of your reviews. This is my first time writing fanfic, so your feedback has meant the world to me. Thank you so, so, so much. If you have any questions or suggestions or anything, just PM me and I'll be glad to answer. Or, you know, just leave them in a review. Reviews are always good 3**

Chapter 4: Of Dinners, Gifts, and Tantrums

Summary: In which Henry and Regina have dinner together.

* * *

She'd been allowed to leave her house today, in order to go grocery shopping. But not without an escort, the council had decided.

Well, Regina supposed that if she had to have a monitor while performing mundane household errands, then there was worse company to be had than Archie Hopper. She could see someone like Granny giving her the side-eye every five seconds as the old bat marched her up and down every aisle with that blasted crossbow pointed at her back. Or Snow's wolf, staring at her impatiently, growling at her while Regina tried to choose between salmon or haddock in the seafood section of the supermarket. No, she decided. The cricket and his need to fill the dead air with inane small talk was infinitely more preferable than any of Snow's other peons that the council could have chosen to accompany her.

Still, the anger and frustration at being put on permanent house arrest, of being made a prisoner in the prison she'd created, had not left her. Regina doubted it ever would. The familiar rage and humiliation she'd felt at, once again, being brought low before Snow White and her fake prince made Regina's blood boil. But it was best not to dwell on it.

No. Today, she had to quell her anger. Today, she had to sweep up the bits of glass and clay that she'd let sit in the family room after yesterday's tantrum, during which she broke a mirror and two vases. Today, she had to actually comb her hair (for the first time in four days). She had to be on her best behavior today. _Everything_ had to be perfect today.

Her baby was coming home.

v

"Are you sure you don't want me to come to the door with you?"

Henry remembered the last time both his mothers had been in the same room together.

"No. That's okay. I'm good."

The two of them sat in the bug outside of the Mayor's Mansion. Henry was going to see his mother for the first time in over a week and Emma still wasn't sure how she felt about that. All she had to do was look up and she'd see Henry's bedroom window, and remember him hanging from the tree just outside it. She shuddered. But then she reminded herself that Regina's magic was sealed now. At the conclusion of the trial, after it was decided that she would be put under lifelong house arrest, the Blue Fairy had fitted Regina with a magic ring that would bind her powers.

It had been of moment of rare honesty and sincerity when Regina told Emma that she had never physically harmed Henry. And Emma _had_ promised her that Henry could come visit every now and then. She didn't want to start this full-time co-parenting thing off by breaking their arrangement. But Emma still didn't trust the former mayor. It had only been a week and a half since Regina had allowed Henry to leave the mansion and come stay with her, and Emma knew from experience that old habits died hard. It would only be for a few hours, though, until ten o'clock. Her nerves could survive until then. She turned to face Henry.

"You remember our plan? If things go south, if _anything_ goes wrong, then you—"

"Call you and say 'Can you bring home some pumpkin pie'?"

"And I'll be over here faster than you can blink. Alright?"

"Okay. " Henry leaned in to hug his mother goodbye.

"I'll see you soon, kid."

v

Henry walked slowly up the path to the front door. _It'll be okay_, he told himself. _You're_ _just coming home_. _You're just coming home to see Mom_.

But she wasn't _just_ his mother. She hadn't been for a long time. She was the Evil Queen. She was a murderer. She'd tried to kill Emma. She had killed the sheriff. She'd killed him, by accident yeah, but still.

Henry wasn't sure how he should act around her now. Before he had to be brave and fight her, fight to get the curse broken. It was broken now, though. Good had won. But where did that leave him and Mom? He knew she loved him, and he knew that he loved her, but now what?

It was four-thirty now. Emma wouldn't be back until ten. What would he and Mom talk about? What would they do? Would she try to trap him here again? No. She couldn't. She didn't have magic now. He rubbed his wrist absent-mindedly. She couldn't hurt him again. She couldn't hurt anyone ever again.

He had reached the front door now. He raised his hand, but the door swung open before he could even knock. There stood his mother. She was dressed in a royal blue dress, a huge smile on her face. He'd forgotten how pretty she was when she smiled like that.

"Henry!" she breathed as she stepped backward to usher him inside. When they reached the foyer, Mom bent down to wrap him up in a tight squeeze. The last time she'd hugged him so tightly, so desperately, had been after he'd run away. Mom held him for what seemed like forever before she pulled back to look at him again. She stared at him. Longingly, like she could spend all day gazing at him and never get tired. It reminded Henry of how Emma had looked at him at the hospital, after she'd saved him. It had been so long since Mom had looked at him like that…

"I'm so glad you're here." She took his hands in hers', that radiant smile still on her face. "I've missed you so much." Were those tears in her eyes?

"I've missed you, too," he said. And it was true. He had missed her, more than he'd realized until this exact moment. He leaned forward to give her another hug, and breathed in that familiar apple scent.

As Mom combed her fingers through his hair and pressed kisses to his cheek, Henry felt some of his worry fade. He was home. Home with Mom.

Just Mom.

v

Regina was sure she could hold her son in her arms forever and never get tired. But you've got to let them go sometime. She pulled back to look at him. "Let me take your backpack, sweetheart," she said as she pulled the straps from his shoulders. It was heavier than usual. School was out for the summer, what did he even keep in here? She placed his backpack in the hallway closet and then guided him into the dining room.

"I made all your favorites," she told him.

"Pot roast," Henry asked eagerly. Regina nodded.

"And green beans, and mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese," she added. Just as excited as he was.

This evening would a chance to return to how things had been before Henry found out about the curse. When it was just she and her son, sitting down for dinner, telling each other about their day. Regina's smile widened at the thought of it.

v

Henry pushed his mashed potatoes around his plate as he stared across the table at his mother. She's stared back, expectantly. The atmosphere had quickly gone from warm to awkward, after they'd sat down at the table. It seemed that neither one of them knew what to talk about. Regina decided to break the tension.

"So, how was the last week of school?"

"Okay," Henry shrugged. "We didn't really do much. We had a party on the last day."

"And your grades?"

"All A's. Like always."

Regina nodded her approval. Henry had always been an excellent student. She was glad to hear that that, at least, hadn't changed. She hesitated before asking her next question.

"And how have you been? With _them_?"

She hadn't meant for "them" to sound so scornful. Or rather, she hadn't meant for Henry to pick up on her scorn. But she could tell from the way he was fighting to keep from smiling at the mention of his biological family that he'd heard the displeasure in her tone and was trying to hide his happiness at being with Emma Swan and the two idiots.

"It's okay," was all he said. Now, Regina was torn. On the one hand, she most certainly did _not_ want to hear about Henry's new life with his new family. On the other hand, she _absolutely_ wanted to hear everything about Henry's new life with his new family. She took a deep breath, then exhaled.

"You needn't be blasé, Henry," she scolded. "I want to know everything about your life. No more secrets with us."

"But you hate them," Henry said bluntly.

"But I love you," she reminded him. "And I want you to be happy. Being with them makes you happy, doesn't it?" Henry nodded. "So I ask again. How have you been, living with Emma and your… grandparents?

"Emma and I made a blanket fort yesterday! And Grams makes really good spaghetti. And Gramps is teaching me how to swordfight! But we're only using wooden ones now, so don't worry…"

At first Regina had to school her features to keep her lip from curling at the mention of that blasted woman and her family. But hearing Henry's enthusiastic prattling about his biological mother and grandparents, living in that cramped shack Snow called an apartment, and seeing a genuine smile on Henry's face for the first time in months, made faking enthusiasm not so difficult after all.

"…And one day this week when Grams and Gramps were busy Emma and I went out to eat. I mean _out_ to eat. We went to a mall in Bangor! To eat in a real restaurant!" He said excitedly.

"She took you out of Storybrooke?!" Regina asked sharply. Then winced internally at the apprehensive look that crossed Henry's face. "I'm not mad. Just surprised," she tried to assure him. It didn't work.

Henry looked down. He could tell she was lying. He tried to think of something to say that wouldn't upset her.

Regina sighed. She reached across the table to take Henry's hand, and squeezed it encouragingly. "Tell me about the mall, darling. Where did you go to eat?" She asked softly, in the most comforting "Mommy" voice she could muster. Henry looked up.

"We went to a place called Ruby Tuesday. I got chicken fingers from off the kids menu—they had two menus, one for kids and one for grown ups—and kids get a special cup they get to take home with them! And then after we were finished eating, me and Emma explored the mall. We went to this store called JC Penny. It was HUGE. There was so much stuff there, clothes and bedroom stuff, and kitchen stuff. And Emma let me pick out superhero T-shirts!" He said all this in one breath, his recollection of his trip to the mall bringing back his excitement full force.

"And then what? Did you go to any other stores?"

"Uh huh," Henry nodded, "this place called Build-A-Bear Workshop where you get to make your own stuffed animals! I made a rabbit. Her name's Alice!" He left out the part about giving her to Emma. "And then we went to this other place called Sears and that place was just as big as JC Penney! They had lots of TVs there, a whole wall of 'em! And then we went to Dairy Queen to get ice cream. I got this thing called a Blizzard and it was double fudge cookie dough flavored!"

"Well it sounds like you and Emma had quite the adventure," Regina grinned, amused by Henry's excited chatter.

"Mm-hmm, and there's something else." Henry said.

"What?" Henry got up from the table and grabbed Regina's hand.

"I got you a present!" He told her as he pulled her along, back to the hall closet where his backpack was.

"Really? For me?" Regina asked as they came to a stop in front of the closet.

"Yeah. We went to this other store called Bath and Body Works—it sells lotion and other girl stuff—" Henry said as he rifled through his backpack. "and I saw this and I thought of you." He pulled two lumpy looking packages from his bag. "I know I didn't do so good with the wrapping…" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Mom hated it when he did things sloppily.

"Oh Henry don't worry about that," Regina said, shaking her head. "I'm just happy that you thought to get something for me while you were on your trip."

"Well, Emma paid for it," he said sheepishly. "I didn't have any money." Regina had to bite back her distaste at the thought of Emma Swan buying her a present. "But still, you asked her to. Thank you, sweetheart, for my present." She reached forward to kiss Henry's cheek and wrap him up in a one armed hug as she reached for her gift.

"Here let's open this in the living room," she said.

She waited until they were seated side by side before she opened her present. "Vermont Honey Apple," she read the label on the bottles. "Is this lotion?"

Henry nodded. "It's lotion and the other bottle is body wash. They match. Do you like it?" He asked quietly.

"I love it. Thank you, honey." She gave him another hug.

"You're welcome." They sat in silence for a few moments before Henry asked, "Can we watch a movie?"

"Of course, dear. Anything you want. Just let me go put these upstairs."

v

They ended up watching _How To Train Your Dragon_. Or rather, Regina ended up watching it. Henry fell asleep in her lap halfway through. _He always gets so tired after a big meal, _she thought fondly, as she ran her fingers through his hair.

When Henry didn't stir, Regina found herself unable to resist. She pulled her baby boy all the way into her lap so that his head rested in the crook of her neck. She rocked him. _God_, she had missed her son so much. She thought back to how things used to be, when Henry was younger. _A four-year-old Henry resting in her arms, his big brown eyes gazing up into hers', he smiled sweetly up at her and buried his face in her chest, trusting her completely. _

As she continued to rock Henry, Regina wondered what she'd have to do to regain her son's full trust, what she'd have to do to get their relationship back to what it once was. Today had been a good start. Even if Henry was still slightly wary of her, he still wanted to see her, still wanted to come over to have dinner and watch movies and give her presents. But could they ever have what they once had, now that he knew for sure that she was The Evil Queen…?

A knock at the door, it was only nine. So it couldn't be Emma. She laid Henry down on the couch gently, and got up to answer the door.

Lo and behold, on her porch stood a frazzled-looking Emma Swan, a wild look in her eyes.

"You're early."

"Is Henry ready?" Emma asked, stepping past Regina, into the house. Now, Regina was officially irritated. _Who did this woman think she was?_ "Ms. Swan, I know your lack of proper upbringing—"

"Look, don't fucking talk to me about my lack of anything, Regina. Because, really, whose fucking fault is that?!"

Well, _that_ was unexpected. Regina started again. "Henry's asleep right now. He was a little tired after dinner."

"That's fine. I can carry him. Where is he?"

"You're early." Regina said again.

"Yeah, and?"

"I was supposed to have him until ten."

"Yeah well now he's only going to be here until nine," Emma snapped. "_Where is he_?"

Regina's patience was wearing thin. "Who the hell do you think you are, to come into my home and bark questions at me?"

"I _think_ I'm the reason you're still allowed to live in this house. I _think_ I'm the reason your head isn't on a damn spike right now. That's who I think I am, bitch. Now tell me where my damn kid is!"

"My son is asleep. So you will keep your voice down and you will not insult me in my house! Why don't you turn around, walk back through that door, and see if you can remember your manners. And then you can come back in and try again," Regina shot back; in the same no nonsense voice she used to ground Henry.

Emma stormed passed her. "If you won't tell me where he is then I'll look for him myself."

Regina would be damned if the spawn of Snow White was going to be allowed to go tearing through her house. She grabbed Emma's arm and yanked her back around so that Emma was facing her. She parsed. That look in her eye, a wild, frenzied look. Something was off.

"Why the sudden urgency?"

Emma yanked her arm from Regina's grasp. "Why do I owe you an explanation?"

"One, because you arrived here an hour early, barged into my home, and shouted insults in my face, and two, because you're about to drive off with my child. So I'll ask you again, what's wrong with you?"

Emma paused. Took a deep breath, and composed herself. "Nothing. Just got into it with the Charmings."

"Hmm trouble in paradise?" Regina asked in a mocking tone. "Well then maybe it's best that Henry stay here for a while, so that you and 'the Charmings' can work things out. We wouldn't want him staying in a toxic environment, would we?" She arched an eyebrow.

"No, we wouldn't." Emma mocked back. "That's why Henry and I are going to take off for a little while?"

"You're not taking him out of Storybrooke again!" Regina shouted.

"We're going on another trip?" An eager voice piped up. Both women turned to see their sleepy-eyed son staring at them.

"Yes."

"No." Both of his mothers answered at the same time.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Regina opened her mouth, then closed it. Emma came towards Henry and knelt down in front of him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded map.

"Henry, I want you to close your eyes, and point to a place on this map, any place. And that's where we're going to go."

"You can't do this! You can't just come in here and—"

"Actually, I can. Like I said, what are you gonna do about it?" She turned to face Henry. "Come on, kid. Get your stuff."

Henry looked up from the map, torn. He looked from his mother's stricken face, and then to his other mother's anxious one. He sighed and walked up to Regina.

"Goodbye, Mom." He wrapped his arms around her waist; giving her the biggest hug he'd given her all day.

"Goodbye, Henry." She said, defeated, as she returned his hug full force.

"When can I come visit again?" He looked from one mother to the other.

"Soon," Emma said. "We won't be gone long."

"You can come and visit me whenever you want, Henry." Regina assured him in a strong voice. "No matter what anyone says," she said pointedly, looking at Emma.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Let's go." Henry pulled away from Regina to follow Emma out the door. Regina caught his arm before he could get too far away. "Call me as soon as you get to wherever it is you're going. Let me know you go there safely."

Henry nodded. "Okay." And then he was gone.

v

Regina paced her bathroom floor, furious. She'd already torn everything out of her bathroom cabinet in a fit of violent rage. Bottles of toothpaste and moisturizer and cleanser lay scattered on the floor. And still, she was steaming. Every thought that entered her brain only fuelled her anger.

The indignity of needing an "escort" to go grocery shopping.

The awkward silences she and Henry had endured at dinner.

Hearing about his life with the Charmings. The mere _thought_ of it drove her to the point of madness on a daily basis. But having to _hear_ about it, _listening_ to every minute detail was maddening!

The fear that she didn't know how to talk to her own child anymore.

The fear that he would never trust her again.

The fear that to him, she would always be "Mom The Evil Queen", never just "Mom" again.

The thought of Emma Swan becoming "Mom" in her place.

The thought of Emma Swan pushing past her, storming into her house and spiriting her child away on some grand adventure, which Henry would surely love because he loved exploring new places.

The fact that she could never be the one to take him to explore new places outside Storybrooke.

The knowledge that she could do nothing to stop The Savior from taking her child from her.

The knowledge that if Emma wanted to, she could keep Henry with her forever, never let him near Regina again, and Regina would be powerless to stop her.

At that last thought, Regina kicked a stray bottle on the floor. It landed against the opposite wall with a thud. She looked over at it and saw that it was the bottle of lotion Henry had gotten her.

No, the bottle of lotion _Emma_ had gotten her.

She picked up the bottle, screwed off the cap and poured the contents down the sink's drain. Then she searched the floor until she found the bottle of body wash. She unscrewed the cap, and then stopped herself. She sniffed, breathing in the scent of apples.

_I saw this and I thought of you. Do you like it?_

No. She didn't. It smelled cheap and she was probably allergic to it and _Emma_ _Swan_ had paid for it. But _Henry_ had picked it out for her. And Regina didn't know when the next time they'd see each other would be. So she would use this infernal too-sweet-smelling soap. If it gave her a rash, well, all the more reason to loathe Emma Swan.

* * *

**A/N: Phew! This was a long one! W.O.W what set our girl Emma off, huh? What happened with her and her parents? We'll see her side of the story in the next chapter. Also, Henry and Emma's road trip, where are they going (NOT Tallahassee, that's too cliché!)? Any suggestions?**

**Leave 'em in a review!**


	5. Of Zoos, Game Nights, and Resentment

**Disclaimer: These characters belong to Eddy and Adam, not me. **

Chapter 5: Of Zoos, Game Nights, and Resentment

Summary: In which Emma and Henry have fun on their road trip, while Snow and Charming worry about their daughter, and Regina gets her drink on.

**A/N: Regarding the last chapter and this one, some people mentioned that Emma could get in trouble for taking Henry out of Storybrooke because she doesn't have legal custody of him. While this is true, no one (police, other authority figure, etc.) would know this unless either Emma or Henry said something, which they won't. I mean, Regina could call the authorities and complain. But in order to do that, she'd have to prove that she had custody of Henry by leaving Storybrooke to go to either the Maine police department, or the police department of wherever it is Emma and Henry are to show them proper documentation. Which I'm pretty sure she can't do, since (I'm pretty sure) she can't leave the town. And then there's the whole legality of Henry's adoption thing, which I have my own opinions on…but yeah. Long story short, I know that the whole Emma and Henry leaving SB thing is iffy, legal wise. But I'm just not gonna deal with it because I don't feel like it. All I wanna do is write a Henry/Emma road trip scene. So there! :-P**

* * *

"So, kid, where'd we land on?" Emma asked as she and Henry walked down the path towards her car. Henry yawned and looked up at her.

"Boston," he said, in a sleepy voice.

"Hmm back to where we started, huh," she grinned as she ruffled his hair. "Do you wanna sleep in the back while I drive?"

Henry nodded.

"Okay. I think I still keep blankets in here," Emma said to herself as they came to a stop in front of the bug. She popped open the trunk and pulled out two fleece blankets.

"Here, you can use these. It's kinda chilly tonight."

v

_She shifted in bed, trying her best not to wake Henry. Poor kid was finally asleep after the little heart-to-heart they'd had about him and Regina. _

Speaking of parent-child relationships…

_Her thoughts drifted back to her parents. Although the day had been pretty hectic, David and Mary Margaret had been trying to corner her ever since their reunion in the town square. _

_It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to her parents, it was—well actually, It _was_ that she didn't want to talk to her parents. _

_"We know must have questions for us," Mary Margaret—no, Snow White, had said to her as they made their way across town, back to the apartment._

_Oh, sure. She had a fuck-ton of questions for them. A _lifetime_ of things she's been waiting to say. She just didn't know how to get them out._

_What do you say to Mommy and Daddy Charming after a twenty-eight year separation? What do you say to the parents you've hated for twenty-eight years for abandoning you by the side of the road? What do you say to the parents who actually _didn't_ abandon you on the side of the road? What do you say to the parents who sent you through a magic portal to live your life alone? _

_What do you say to parents at all?_

_"Just give me some time," she'd told them after dinner when they'd made their final attempt to drag a conversation out her of her. "I just need some time to make sense of all this."_

_They'd nodded and said that they understood. But Emma knew they wouldn't be patient forever. _

v

Emma pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express in Cambridge and parked the car. She turned around to see Henry still knocked out in the back sleep, bundled up under the two blankets she'd given him. After climbing out of the car, she pulled open the backseat door, and shook Henry awake. He mumbled some disgruntled gibberish but nonetheless allowed her to lead him inside the hotel.

v

_"Why are Henry's wrists all cut up and bruised," asked David._

_Henry was upstairs sleeping. He'd decided to go to bed early after the trying day he'd had, what with the incident with the tree and the showdown between his mothers, leaving Emma to have dinner alone with her parents. Without the boy's incessant babbling to keep things light, it had been a rather silent, awkward meal up until this exact moment. _

_Crap. How did she answer that? If she told them the truth, she had a feeling their inner Protective Grandparent would kick in and they'd completely renege on Regina's house arrest. She could picture her p—Snow and Charming, storming over there to execute Regina themselves. But she didn't want to lie to them, either. Maybe a little embellishment… _

_"Just a little accident while I was dealing with Regina," _Stretching the truth. Not lying. That's okay, right?

_"What did she do?" David demanded, his voice hard._

_Emma withered under his don't-lie-to-me-I'm-your-father stare. _Crap. Well, here goes nothing_. She took a deep breath and as fast as she could, said. _

_"She-did-some-crazy-magic-shit-and-used-some-tree- branches-to-restrain-him."_

_"WHAT?!" both of the Charmings yelled in unison. David pushed his chair back and got up from the table. Emma got up with him_

_"No, no, no, David, wait, listen," she said hurriedly. "I think it was an accident. Honestly, Regina was more torn up about it than anyone."_

_"You stood up for her at the council hearing after seeing what she did to your son?!" David barked at her._

_"Keep your voice down!" Emma shushed him. "Henry's sleeping. And yeah, I did. Look, I know what Regina did was shitty, okay? I'm not making excuses for that." She paused to take a deep breath. "But you should have seen her. Once she saw what she did to Henry, she apologized for everything. She's the one who sent him home with me. I didn't have to fight her for him—well we DID fight—but still. She told me that she wanted to change. And…Henry loves her. She loves him. She wants to change for him, so I say we give her the chance." _

_David still looked unconvinced. She continued. "Look, he's here with us now. We have control over when he sees her. She's on house arrest. She can't use magic. It's done. Can we finish eating, please?"_

_David's face was still sour. And Snow didn't look too pleased either. Emma's stomach churned and she felt herself shrink under the look of doubt and disappointment in her parents' eyes. _

v

Henry was confused. Where was he? This wasn't his room at his mom's house or his and Emma's room at his grandmother's loft. It took a few seconds for him to remember. Emma had picked him up early. She'd said they were going on a trip. Boston! That's where they were. He turned over and saw Emma sleeping beside him. Then he climbed out of bed to look around some more. This room was even smaller than the one they shared in Storybrooke.

There was a nightstand next to the bed they'd slept in. On the opposite wall there was a TV on top of a dresser and to the right of that, a table with two chairs, which sat against a huge window. Henry walked over to in and pulled the curtain back.

He was disappointed to find that there was nothing much to look at, just a parking lot. Henry thought a big city like Boston, which was even bigger than Bangor, would be more exciting than this. It certainly _looked_ more exciting the last time he was here.

Oh well. He turned and spotted some magazines on the table, travel guides. Henry smiled. He was sure that he and Emma would find something fun to do.

Henry always had fun with her.

v

The phone's ringing jolted Regina awake. She'd fallen asleep by the cordless phone in her sitting room, waiting for Henry to call. She blinked open her eyes, then closed them. Her head was pounding. Reaching for the phone, she accidently knocked over an empty bottle of cognac. It fell to the floor and the resulting crash made her head _scream_.

"Hello," she answered tersely.

"Hi, Mom!"_ Henry!_ Regina brightened at hearing her son's voice.

"Henry? Where are you? Are you all right? I waited up all night for you to call."

"I'm sorry," Henry's tone lost some of its excitement and Regina hated herself for letting her sour mood ruin his enthusiasm. "I was really tired when we left. I went back to sleep in the car. I just woke up." _Of_ _course_, Henry wouldn't have kept her waiting like that for no reason. She'd remembered how tired he'd been when Emma had rushed him out the door. Of course he'd gone back to sleep.

"That's quite alright, dear," she assured him. "Where are you?" She asked again.

"In Boston."

_Should've known she'd take him there. _

"Do you know how long you'll be there."

"Uh-uh. But I can ask Emma when she wakes up."

_Lazy woman. Sleeping the day away while Henry's awake all by himself. What if he's hungry and wants breakfast?_

"You do that, dear. And let me know what she says, alright?"

"Okay. I will."

"Have fun in Boston, sweetheart. I'll see you when you get back."

"'Kay. Bye, Mom. I love you."

"I love you, too, Henry."

Regina was still wearing the same dress from last night. And judging by how clumpy and sticky her eyes and cheeks felt, her makeup was probably smudged all over her face. She needed a shower.

But the thought of Henry, being taken miles away to some other city and she not being able to bring him home, coupled with knowledge that she couldn't even leave her own house anymore without permission, zapped her of any energy to do anything about her bedraggled appearance.

Instead she ignored her pounding headache, stumbled her way over to her liquor cabinet, and poured herself a glass of scotch while she waited for Henry's next call.

v

Something was poking her.

"Emma."

Something small.

"_Emma_."

Some_one_ was poking her.

"Emma!"

She turned over.

"Emma c'mon, get up!"

Now someone was sitting on her. He was heavy to be so small. She tried to roll over again but Henry was sitting on her side.

"Nuh-uh," he said. She could hear the grin in his voice. "I know you're awake, Emma. C'mon get out of bed, we've got stuff to do!"

"Ughhhh"

Henry crawled off of her. Now he was pulling on her arm, literally trying to drag her out of bed.

"What the hell, kid? It's seven-thirty!"

"I know!" He was still pulling on her arm. Still trying to drag her out of bed. "We have to get an early start. There's so much stuff to do! We've got to eat breakfast first; they only serve breakfast here 'til ten. And then I want to go on the Freedom Trail and ride the duck boats and go to the zoo and go to the Museum of Fine Arts and then I want to go to see if they have a mall here 'cause if they do then we should go there and see if they have different stuff there than the one in Bangor does. Or maybe you could just tell me. Are all malls the same, Emma?"

Emma just stared wide-eyed at him. _How_ was he so energetic so early in the morning?

"Emma _come_ _on,_" he pouted. "Get dressed. We're wasting time!"

Emma heaved a sigh as she slid out of bed. It was going to be a long day.

v

This time it was the blasted doorbell that woke Regina from her slumber. Her head was still pounding. She was still in the same dress. And the sun was still shining. Was it even still the same day?

Her first thought was to let the doorbell ring and leave whoever was on her doorstep out there, lest anyone see her in such a state. Besides, it was probably just one of Snow's dwarves, come to see if she was still on her best behavior. She scoffed inwardly at the thought.

But the damn bell Just. Wouldn't. Stop. _Ringing_. She decided to have mercy on her throbbing head and got up to answer the door.

She'd lost. What did it matter if anyone saw her in this state, anyway?

"Regina!" God _dammit_. Of all the people to come knocking on her door in the middle of her drunken stupor, it had to be this idiot girl. "Have you seen Emma and Henry?"

She stepped back to allow Snow White into her house.

"Why?"

"They didn't come home last night," Snow rushed out. " I thought they might have stayed the night at Granny's, just so that Emma could clear her head. But they're not there. Granny and Red haven't seen them. And David and I have looked everywhere…"

"Well they're certainly not here, dear."

"Did Emma say anything about where she was going when she came to pick Henry up?" Snow asked, her tone growing more and more desperate with each word.

Regina's first thought was to lie and say no, Snow's spawn hadn't said where she was taking Regina's son, just to see the crestfallen look on her face. But then, she saw herself being dragged before the council, after Snow had turned the town over a second time and found no sign of the precious savior. Regina would be the prime suspect in the prince and princess's disappearance. And without Emma there to vouch for her, Regina's head really would be on a spike this time.

"You're daughter," she began curtly, her voice still slightly hoarse from sleep, "came to pick Henry up last night. Early, before the time we agreed upon. She took him and left. Apparently, they're in Boston right now. Henry called this morning to tell me."

"Did he say when they'd be back," Snow asked anxiously, pacing back and forth.

"No."

"Ohhh this is all my fault," the girl said, still pacing. No doubt running a hole in Regina's carpet.

"As per usual," Regina said coldly. She walked over to the front door and held it open impatiently. "If that's all, dear…"

Snow walked through the front door. At the porch, she turned around and asked, "You'll let me know if Henry calls you with more information?"

"Mmm, " was all Regina said before she slammed the door in the imbecile's face.

She needed another drink.

v

Once again, Emma found herself leading a half-asleep Henry up to their hotel room and putting him to bed. The poor kid had worn himself out today.

He'd been committed to fitting every single activity he'd rattled off this morning into one day. Until Emma told him that they would be in Boston until Sunday, which gave them three whole days to do whatever he wanted. Henry calmed down after that and excused himself to call Regina to let her know.

Still, though Henry had slowed down, their day had been action packed.

They'd started out at the Franklin Park Zoo. Where they'd spent an inordinate amount of time in the Reptile House ("Snakes are so cool, Emma! I wonder if they have a Cobra, or a viper! Wouldn't that be _awesome_?").

After that they went on the Freedom Trail. Or rather, they started to do the Freedom Trail. But then Henry got distracted by a concert going on in the Boston Common. And when it was over they just sort of gave up, got ice cream, and People Watched from a park bench by the gardens. "History's kinda boring, anyway. This is way better," he'd told her.

When they got through the park, they took the Green line, much to Henry's excitement (I've never been on a subway before! It's so loud down here! And it _smells_!"), to the Cambridge Galleria, where they she got to introduce Henry to the supreme delicacy that is Chipotle. Then they browsed the mall for about an hour before closing time. Henry was disappointed that there wasn't a Spencer's there. But Emma made it up to him by taking him to the Apple Store to play with the iPads.

v

_"I'm heading out," Emma called over her shoulder, as she got ready to leave the sheriff's station to pick up Henry from the bus stop. _

_"Okay, see you later tonight," David said. "Leroy should be here to take over by about six. I'll be home a little after that. Don't start without me."_

_"Start what?"_

_"Game Night, remember?"_

_Ohhhh _crap_. She did remember. After their rather heated discussion about what had gone down at Regina's, Snow decided that they needed to reconnect, or rather, _connect_ as a family. She'd suggested a game night last night before the three of them had gone to bed. _

_She'd caved after having two smiling, expectant faces staring at her. But now? The thought of Family Game night, with her family, with her _parents_, sitting around at a table with them, once again trying to strike up awkward conversation. Emma just couldn't do it. _

_"Oh, yeah. Sure. See ya tonight!"_

_As she was driving away from the station, she wracked her brain trying to think of an excuse she could use to get out of this. She found one as she pulled up to the bus stop and saw Henry there, sitting on the bench. _

_"Hey kid! You ready?"_

_When they got home from the mall later that night, David and Snow weren't home._

_ The next morning she woke Henry up early for breakfast at Granny's. They were out the door before her parents even woke up. _

v

Even though he'd had a blast with Emma in Boston these past few days, Henry was glad to be going back home. He'd missed his grandparents and his mom, and he couldn't wait to see them and tell them all about all the things he and Emma had done on their latest trip. He turned to Emma who was packing up their things so that they could check out.

"Are you excited to be going back?" he asked.

"I guess so," she said, while struggling with the zipper on her duffle bag. She didn't sound all that thrilled to Henry.

"Aren't you excited to see Grams and Gramps again?"

Emma was silent for a bit, still struggling with the zipper.

"Yeah, sure," she answered finally.

Henry paused for a minute to consider something. "You haven't talked to them the entire time we've been here," he noted. "You didn't call them to let them know we got here okay like I did with my mom."

"Well that's because I don't have to. I'm an adult."

"Yeah, but your parents should always know where you're at. No matter how old you are."

"This coming from the kid who runs away, skips school, and crawls down mine shafts?" Emma accused, getting increasingly irritated the longer this conversation went on.

"That's not the point," Henry said, waving his hand in an imperious manner that reminded her so much of Regina. "Maybe you should call them now. To let them know we're on our way back. Oh! Maybe they'll make us a Special Welcome Home Dinner. Something really good, like pot roast!"

"Doubt it," Emma said under her breath.

"Why?" Henry was growing suspicious now. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"Huh? No, of course not," she lied, unconvincingly. Then shrank under Henry's withering "I-definitely-inherited-your-lie-detector-gene-spi ll-it" glare. "Okay, so your grandparents and I had a slight disagreement before we left Storybrooke." Henry glared harder, this kid was so damn perceptive. She finally caved. "Okay, okay, yes, we had a fight!"

"What about?"

_"So, what happened last night?" David asked, breaking the tense, awkward silence that had been between them since he'd joined her at the sheriff's station._

_"Oh…yeah um… Something came up," Emma mumbled. "Sorry."_

_"What came up?"_

_"Just a thing. Me and Henry had to go do a…thing."_

_"What kind of thing?"_

_"Nothing." Emma shrank down in her chair. She felt like a sixteen year old who had stayed out too late and was about to get grounded. It embarrassed and angered her all at once. On the one hand, it had been really shitty of her to just blow them off like that._

_But on the other, who did this guy think he was? Interrogating her like he was her fath—oh, that's right. David wasn't just some guy, just some asshole who broke Mary Margaret's heart. He was her _father_. She had a _father _now who wanted heart-to-hearts and Family Game Nights. Emma didn't know what to do with that. _

_"Look, I'm…sorry, okay?" she said. "It was really sh—crappy of me to just bail on you guys like that. I just…"_

_"Just what?" David asked softly, laying a hand on Emma's forearm. "Emma you can talk to me and your mother. You know that, right?"_

_Emma pulled her arm away. "Yeah I know…" she shrank further into herself, slouching down in her seat. "It's just—"_

_"Hey you two! I brought dinner!" _

_Snow walked into the room just then, carrying a takeout bag from Granny's. "I thought we could make up for the other night."_

_Emma faltered. _

_"Actually," she said, looking at the clock. "I have to go pick up Henry."_

_"But I thought he was supposed to be there until ten," Snow said._

_"Well, it's kind of late, anyway. And ten is past his bedtime."_

_"An hour won't make a difference," Snow protested. "Stay and have dinner with us."_

_"I already ate," Emma said flatly as she stood up. "Besides, it's like, eight-thirty. It's a little late to be eating so much."_

_"You, the queen of the midnight snack, think eight-thirty's too late to eat," David said playfully. Emma tensed up._

_"And just what the hell do you know about me and my eating habits?" Emma snapped. David took a step back. _

_"Emma I was only joking…" _

_"And that's the point of us having dinner together, Emma," Snow said patiently. "So that he can get to know you and you can get to know us." She moved toward Emma and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Just sit down. Let's just eat and talk." She placed her bag down on Emma's desk._

_Emma brushed her hand away. "I don't want to talk," she said hotly, backing away from her mother. _

_"Well we do," David said. _

_"You're our daughter, Emma." Snow added. "We just want to know you." _

_Emma backed futher away from her._

_"I just…don't know how to do this. " she said quietly. "I don't _want_ to do this. This happy family thing. I don't need it. I don't want it."_

_"Emma please—"_

_"No!" Emma exclaimed, quickly losing patience with this whole "happy family" charade. "No, okay? I've been on my own, without you, for twenty-eight years. Taking care of myself, _alone_, for twenty-eight years. I'm done. I'm grown. You're too late. I don't need you. I don't need game nights and family dinners and heart to hearts with the people who put me in a box and shipped me to Maine!"_

_Snow recoiled as if she'd been slapped. David looked like a deer caught in headlights. _

_"Emma," he said slowly, taking a step toward her. "We did that to give you your best chance."_

_Emma shook her head, and gulped back the lump in her throat. "You did it for you, for everyone in your kingdom. You made sure I got away so that I could come back and save all your asses. You didn't care that I'd have to be alone to do it!"_

_Snow shook her head at this, tears streaming down her face. _

_"Emma is that what you think?" she said in a choked voice. _

_"For my entire life," Emma said, ignoring both her mother's tears and her question. "All I ever knew was that my parents abandoned me—"_

_"We didn't—"_

_"All anyone could tell me," Emma pressed on, on a roll at this point. "was that I was found on the side of the road, like trash or road kill. I've been given away and passed along and tossed aside for my entire life. And YOU people" she cried, her voice rising, " were the ones to start it off. Do you have any idea what it's like to grow up knowing that no one wants you—"_

_"Emma that's not true of course we—"_

_"Being told that you're worthless. Being made to feel unlovable and ashamed because if your own parents didn't want you, then who would, right? If your own parents tossed you out on the side of the road, if even THEY couldn't find it in them to keep you and love you. Then who could right? No one, that's who!" _

_She ignored David shaking his head furiously back and forth and Snow's quiet sobbing. It felt good to hurt them. It felt good to give them a taste of the rejection she'd had to endure her whole life. She'd been waiting to find her parents for so long, but until now, she'd had no idea what she would say to the people who'd left her. This. She'd been waiting to say all of this. _

_"I've had to deal with being tossed around from place to place like—like—someone's crappy hand-me-downs for eighteen years. For eighteen years I needed bedtimes stories, and hugs and kisses and—and—freaking family game night," she mocked using finger quotes, "but now? Now it's too late. I'm an adult. I've taken all the shit life's thrown at me, all on my own for twenty-eight years, without you, and survived it. You're too late. I don't need you, your food," she said looking at Snow. "Your lame-ass attempts to strike up conversation," she looked to David. "Or any more impromptu family bonding sessions." She took a deep breath, finished with her tirade. Then looked up to see her parents' stunned faces and instantly felt worse. _

_Crap. Things had been awkward between them before, and now Emma had just made them even worse with her little rant just now. She and Henry still had to live with these people, she reminded herself. Well, she could always get a room at Granny's…or maybe if that didn't work out she could take him to live with her in Boston, like she'd wanted to do before. No, she couldn't do that. She didn't have his birth certificate or social security card and plus her and Regina were trying to work things out…_

_"Emma," Snow's voice broke her from her reverie. "Emma I know you're angry with us." She took Emma's hands in her own and squeezed them. "I know you haven't had an easy life—"_

_"You don't know anything about anything!" Emma shouted, stomping her foot like a petulant child. "Neither of you do. You have no idea—"_

_"That's why we want you to tell us," Snow said, her voice rising in desperation. "That's all we've been asking. For you to just talk to us."_

_"I don't WANT to talk. Don't you get it," Emma roared. _

_She didn't know what was happening or where all of this sudden fury was coming from. But just seeing Snow's teary eyes and the desperate look on David's face made her livid. What did they have to cry about? They're the ones who'd given her up. They made that choice. They'd cast her out so that she could come back and rescue everyone from Regina. They had no right to be feeling sorry for themselves. _

_"I don't want to talk. I don't want you to get it. I don't want to know you. I don't even think I want to live with you anymore!" She moved around Snow to get her coat from off the back of her desk chair and began to walk out of the room._

_"Emma, wait! Where are you going?" she heard David shout from the hallway._

_"To pick up Henry. Don't wait up."_

"Wow," Henry said after Emma finished telling him about what had gone down between her and his grandparents. "So then…is that why we came on this trip. So that you could run away from them?"

"You make it sound so awful," Emma said wryly. "Didn't you have fun?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"It just seems so…. mean, I guess. To just bail on them like that. All they wanna do is know you." Henry said hesitantly.

"I know," she admitted softly. "It's just… a part of me wants to know them, too." She paused, unsure if she should be having such frank conversation with her ten year old. But she'd already gotten this far in so… "And another part—"

"Hates them," Henry finished for her.

"Yeah," Emma said, looking at him.

"I know how that feels," Henry answered her unspoken question. "I was…really, really mad at you when I first found out I was adopted. It was around the time that I figured out that something was wrong with the town. I was so angry I flipped over the bookshelf in my room!"

"Wow, look at you, Incredible Hulk," Emma teased. Henry ignored her.

"I felt like maybe you did it on purpose. Left me with her in a cursed town because you hated me and didn't care what happened to me."

Emma's teasing grin twisted into a grimace.

"Henry of course I—"

"I know," he assured her. "But they did the same thing for you that you did for me. They gave you your best chance."

Emma was _so sick_ of hearing that phrase. "Mine, or everyone else's," she mumbled bitterly. "I had to get away so that I could come back and save everyone."

"No, it was your best chance too!" Henry insisted. "The Evil Queen and her guards were coming to get you!"

"What?" Had she missed something?

"Don't you remember? It was right there in my book! Didn't you read it at all?" Henry asked, exasperated.

Emma avoided his gaze, guiltily.

"Who knows what would have happened to you if Gramps hadn't gotten you to that wardrobe in time," Henry said.

"Still though, Henry I don't think you understand. For my whole life I had no one. I was completely alone in the world. And that sense of…abandonment, worthlessness. It doesn't just go away."

"I know," Henry said again.

Emma turned her head sharply to look at him. _What? _

"Sometimes…" he began slowly. "Sometimes I still get mad at you…for leaving me. Sometimes I still get sad when I think about what our lives would have been like. When I think about how different it could have been to live with you…"

"Oh, kid…"

"It's okay!" He said quickly. "Because I found you in the end and you're never going anywhere ever again without me, right?" Emma nodded vigorously. "Right. And plus, now I've got two moms. And grandparents. Before it was just me and Mom and that's it and I love her and everything, but it's nice having more people in your life. It's nice having a bigger family. It's nice—"

"—Having family at all." They finished together.

"Yeah," she agreed. It _was_ nice. It was a nice to have finally found her parents, even if she was still angry with them. It was nice to know that she was and had always been wanted, even if she didn't know what to do with that right now. It was nice to know that, if she wanted to, she could go back to where she'd come from and her parents would still be there waiting for her, or would they?

"I guess I kinda screwed things up." Emma said quietly. "I said some pretty awful things to them I don't know if I can—"

"When I knocked over my bookshelf," Henry interrupted her again. "and after I ran away, and then even after I went to see my mom to have dinner with her after the curse broke, I thought she'd be so angry that she wouldn't want me around anymore." It hurt Emma's heart to hear Henry talk like that. "But after every time I did something wrong, no matter how big it was, she'd just give me a really big hug. And I knew that things were still okay between us."

"So what you're saying is, it's always okay to go home."

"Mmhmm," Henry nodded. "They're your parents. They love you, no matter what."

Emma walked around the bed to where Henry was standing, bent down, and gave him the tightest hug she could without strangling him.

"You are one very smart little boy, you know that? Where'd you get all your wisdom from?"

"Probably not from you," he teased.

"Hey!" Emma said indignantly, giving him a playful pinch.

"Well you did sort of throw a tantrum and took us on a spur of the moment road trip."

"Mmm yeah. Not really setting a good example with that one."

"And you didn't call Gramps and Grams when we got here to let them know where we are or call them just now to tell them that we're on our way home, the way I did with Mom."

"And there's that too."

"Also you did start a huge fight with Mom when you came to pick me up early."

"You were awake for that?"

"You really should apologize to her," Henry said in a stern voice.

"Okay, okay enough with the wisdom!" Emma grumbled. She poked him in the stomach. "Finish packing so we can get outta here."

**A/N 2: This chapter was really kind of a bitch to write. Kinda like pulling teeth. Anyway, let me know what you think!**


End file.
